Learning to Unlearn On the 4th of July

A beneficial way to celebrate the week of the 4th of July is to have your own revolution that frees yourself of an oppressor. Declare for yourself a personal Independence Day by rebelling against what enslaves you. Is the oppressor your fear of what others may think or say about you? Is your freedom limited by church laws learned as a child that you still feel obliged to observe? Are you, as are some adults, a prisoner of resentment towards childhood teachers whose religious instructions they consider a type of child abuse? To establish our own identity we need family and group identities, along with customs and laws to establish boundaries. As adults some of these rules learned as a child are no longer necessary, yet we can feel morally obliged to still observe them. This 4th of July those suffering from such old legal obligations can find liberation in the words of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, “We had to obey the old rules so we could know how to disobey them correctly.” His Holiness lifts the oppressive burden of old laws by encouraging disobeying them—correctly. The first rule to properly disobey any old law is that your actions do not bring harm to you or to others. Yet, even if done correctly, to disobey an ingrained prohibitive law can be very difficult. Psychologists state it is harder to stop observing a law that forbids than one that grants permission. The reality of this principle was shown some forty years ago when the Catholic Church removed its law forbidding the eating of meat on Fridays. Some older—and also very conservative Catholics—found not to refrain from eating meat on Fridays painfully difficult, if not impossible. I would suspect other faith denominations that no longer forbid drinking alcohol and gambling have met a similar reaction. Have a “Happy 4th of July”—and do this by examining what laws, addictions, habits or fears restrict your freedom, and then have a revolution to overthrow them! Mindful that they may be problematic religious laws, I close with a good prayer to God by the saintly 13th century Sufi Persian mystic, Rumi: “Stones rush to dance before the laughing beauty of your face. Return from hiding once more and play like fire on my fickle senses so I may learn to unlearn.…”

Edward Hays

Haysian haphazard thoughts on theinvisible and visible mysteries of life.